Golf indicating mechanism



sept 1s, 192s.

'H. G. coNNER GOLF INDICATING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 1l, 1926 5Sheets-Sheet Sept.. 18, 1928.

H. G. CQNNER GOLF' INDIGATING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. ll,1926 INVENTOR ATTORNEY.

Sept. 18, 1928;

H. G. CONNER GOLF INDICATING MECHANLSM Filed Sept.11, 1926 3Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. vHcyrry G. Conner ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 18, 1928.v

v `HARRY G. comme, orinnrnorr, MICHIGAN.

GOLF INDICATNG MECHANISM.

Application filed September 11, 1926. Serialv No. 134,805.

, Y My invention relates toa new and useful improvement in a golfindicating mechanism adapted for use by golfei's and intended toindicate, when-used, the errors in the driving of the golfer.

The golfer when playing the game of golf has opportunitT to observe .hisstriking-only a comparatively few times around a. course and theinterval between periods vof striking the ball is suoli that it isdifficult for a. player to consistently and methodically improve on hisstriking.

It is an object of the present inventionl to providey a mechanismwhereby the error in striking may be indicated and the liight of theball, as to direction and distance, indicated and computed.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a mechanism wherebythe user may ascertain whether or not in driving he isslicing orhooking.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a plurality ofdisplaceable members voutlining a thorough course of flight of the balland adapted for displacement upon engagementwith the ball so that thedriving of the ball out of its true course of flight may be indicated bythe displaced members. i

A Another object of the invention is the provision of a mechanism ofthis class wherebyA the distance of the flight of the ball may becomputed. v'

Another object of the invention is the provision of an automaticallyoperated shield for preventing the return of the ball to the indcatingmovable members.

. Another object of the invention the provision of a mechanism forplacing these movable members in operative position after striking aball. y. Y

Another object of the invention is the provision of a pivotally mountedtee on which theV ball is restedA preliminarily to being struck.

Another object of the invention is the pi'ovision of a device of thisclass which will be simple in structure, economical of manufacture andhighly efiicientin use. v

Other objects will appear hereinafter. The invention consists in thecombination and arrangement vof partshereinafter de- 'scribed andclaimed. l

The inventionwill be best understood by a reference to the accompanyingdrawings which form a part of this specification and inV which,

Fig.- 1 is a top plan view of the invention with parts broken away.

Fig. 2 is a. sectional view of the invention taken on substantially line2-2of F ig. `1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view o the 'shield used in theinvention. v

Fig. 4 is a. fragmentary sectional view taken on substantially line 44-4of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on substantially line 5-5of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view of the lifting mechanism usedinthe invention; Fig. ."(vis a side elevational view illustrating theclub positioned indicating mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentaiy top plan View of Fig. 7.

' Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on substantially line 9-9of Fig. 7. Fig. 10 is an enlarged. side elevational view of the clubpositioning mechanism in one `position. v Y

' Fig. 11 isa fragmentary perspective view of Fig. 10 showing anotherposition.

Fig. 12 is a. fragmentary perspective view ofFig. 10 showing stillanother position.

Fig. 13 isa sectional'view illustrating the spring release used.

lill

As'shownin the drawings I provide a platform 15, having downwardly'directed flanges -14 and 17 which serve to support the platform inelevated position relatively to the surface v upon which it is placed.Formed in the platy form 1.5 is an opening 18 in which is adapted forpositioning a plate or supporting meinber 19 which serves to carry aportion of the mechanism used in the invention. Formed in `the plate 19are a plurality of recesses 20. Projectingk vthrough the recesses 20transversely are spaced rods 21, upon whichare loosely mountedindicating pins 22, each of these pinsbeing independently movable vonthe rods 21. As clearly appears from Fig. 4

abutment. members 23 are-provided against y,

which the pins 22 restso as to prevent the falling of the pins in onedirection. As shown in Fig.v 4 iii dotted lines, the pins 22 may bemoved downwardly into inclined position. Formed in the plate 19 is anopening 24 in which is positioned altee 25swingably mounted on the'rod26. 'Swingably mounted on the rod 26 and connected to the tee 25 is a ydepending link 27 to thelower end of which in Fig. 4, a suitableshoulder 29 serving to Vlimit the upward movement of the tee 25.

Mounted on the plate 19 is a mat 30 having a portion 31 and 32 at itsopposite ends 0f reduced thickness. Formed in the mat are parallelextending slots 33, through which project the indicating pins 22 when inupright position. Projecting upwardly from the rear side of the platform15 are angle irons 34 and 35, to which is secured a suitablescreenmember, 36, formed from canvas or the like. These angle irons 34and 35are pivotally mounted on the platform 15 and normally retained inupright position between springs 37 and 38. Projecting outwardly fromthe V sides of the `angleirons 34 and 35 is a pin 39. Pivotally mountedon each side of the platmoving the shield to upright position, a suit#able leaf spring 43 serving to normally retain the nose 42 in engagementwith the pin `39.

Upon disengagement of the nose 42 with the pin 39 the angle irons willmove into vertically extending Vposition so as to bring thescreen intooperative position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. Extending beneaththe platform 15 and projected along the medial line ofthe plate 19 is atube 44, through which projects a cord 45', said cord being secured atone end to a rod 46, the other end of said cord being secured to apointer block-47 Vcarrying the pointer arms48 and 49, said pointer blockprojecting upwardly through a slot 5() formed in lthe platform 15 and ina dial plate`5l, which is mounted on the platform. Positioned in theslot 50 is a coil spring 52 which engages an abutment pin 53 at one end,and at its opposite end the pointer vblock 47, so that the pointer blockis normally retained in the position'shown in full lines in Fig. l and alongitudinal movement of thc block 47 in the slot 50 will eiiect acompression of the spring 52, this particular mechanism serving as ascale for measuring the force of the blow delivered to the ball.

The opposite end of the rod 4G'is secure to the cord 54 `which isattached to a golf ball 55. Projecting outwardly to each side of theplatform is a rod 56, the opposite ends there- Y of being angularlytwined and connected Vto the cord 57 which is secured to the dog 41.

block 47 against the tension of the spring 52, the distance of movementof the dial block 47 being dependent upon the force of the blowdelivered to the ball.V The'dial block 47 when moved longitudinally isprevented rebe released so that the shield may swing to Y uprightposition and prevent the return of the ball 55 to the upper surface ofthe platform 15, the rod 5G beingV attached to the cord 54 and rockedthereby. 'f i It will be noted from Fig. V1 that the indieating pins areplaced at. opposite sides of the ball 55 leaving a clear path centrallyof the platform 15, so that as theball is struck Vsquarely and drivenstraight from its seat on the tee 25, it will travel arallel to the tube44, neither theball or cub disturbing any of the indicating pins 22.However 1f the ball is driven laterally out of its path it will indicateits path of travel by the indicating pins 22, which will be knocked downby the club headV so that the player, by observinv the pins 22 whichhave been misplaced willbrecognize the path of travel of the club headorthe ball, thus indicating the error in striking the ball. Bycomputingthe mass of the ball with the power indicated by the dial plate and thepointers 48 and 49 the distance 0f drive may be ascertained and in thisconnection in the practicalfoperation and useof the device a chart ma beprovidedftoindicate the distanceof flight, the computation involving theindication on the dial plate 52. In such computation, of course, theangle of flight must also be considered but a mean angle of Vflight maybe used for giving quite closely accurate results.

Rota'tably mounted in the platform 15 are rods 85, each of which isprovided with a plu! rality of angularly turned portions 86 lying in thepockets or recesses 20v so that whenY rotated #in one direction theseangularly turnedportions 86 will engage the members 22 and move them toupright position. As shown in'Fig. 5, the ends 87 are turned downwardlyand connected to the`rod'88 shown in Fig. 2, this rod ybeing connectedto one end of a bell crank 89, the other end ofwhich is secured totheplunger 90 `which is normally held by the `spring 91 in upwardlypressed position. The construction issuch that after the blow has beenstruck and some of the members 22 displaced, the operator may, bystepping on the plunger 90, raise the members 22 to upstanding oroperative position.

Considering the pins which have been displaced the errors in drivingwill be notedbut to more accurately indicate whether theliead ofthe golfclub precedesthe hands of the user or the hands' of the user precedesthe head of the golf'in striking, I have provideda mechanism which isadapted for mounting on the platform 1,5. Projecting upwardly from theplatform 15 is a lug 72, upon which is pivotally mounted a shaft or rod73 which projects through a tube 74 and is provided on its upper endwith a knob 75. Positioned in the tube 74 and embracing the rod 73 is ablock 76, against which engages one end of a spring 77, the other end otwhich engages the inner end et the knob 7 5 so as to exert downwardpressure on the tube 74. Projecting outwardly 'from the block 7G andprojecting through the tube 74 is an engagen'ient arm `78 adapted -forrotating the tube174 relatively to the rod 78 when this engagement armisstruck by the golf club 79. Rotatably mounted on the rod 7 3 is a collar80 having a tongue Sl projecting upwardly from its upper end andprovided with a radially outwardly extending engagement arm 82. is shownin llig. 10, Fig. 1l and Fig. l2, the tube 74 is provided on its lowerend with. a number ot steps 83, the centrally positioned step 84 servingas a tongue for engaging the tongue 8l. c

ln operation the tube 74 is positioned with its tongue 84 in engagementwith the tongue 81 as shown in Fig. l0. lWhen in this position theengagement arm 78 will be in alignment with the engagement arm 82. gengagement arms project outwardly into the path of travel of the golf 79when the ball is being struck, the tiltable mounting ot the rod 73serving to permit the necessary adjustment to bring these arms intoproper position so as topi-eject across the path of travel.

A wing nut 85 will serve to clamp the rod 73 in its desired position ofadjustment. Then the hands and head of the golf are traveling uniformlythe arms 78 and 82 will be simultaneously engaged, so that the collar 80willrct-ate in unison with the tube 74, the tongues S4 and 8l remainingin engagement with each other. Should the li ands of the user precedethe head ci the golfv Athe arm 7 8 will be lirst engaged, thus movingthe tube 74 so as to permit thetongue 8l to fall behind the tongue 84,as shown in i2. Should the head et the golf precede the hands of theuser the engagement arm 82 will be first engaged moving the tongue 8lout et engagement with the tongue 84 into the position shown in Fig. 11,so that by observing the position of the tube 844 and the collar 80,

the user may know whether or not his hands and the head are traveling inthe same plane when the ball is being struck. In this way the slicingand hooking errors in a golfers driving;` may be recognized and thenecessary practice and experiments undertaken to correct these errors.

lilith a mechanism oli this class the usery may very easily and quicklyascertain the so that he may, with accurate information as to what theerrors are, take the necessary steps for correction. In that the usermay practice driving at frequent intervals, immediately after checkingup on the errors, much practice may be had ina short time withsubstantially the same results ras though" the driver were driving theball over a regular course. j

`ln addition to 4the iiv'eatures of the mechanism noted above it isbelieved obvious that the device may be constructed tora game of indoorgolf, a suitable chart ot a goltl course being provided and the userstravel over the gell' course accurately and quite closely computed. f

llthile l have villustrated and described `the 4preferred form otmyinvention, I donot for attaching said gell ball to said indicatingAmember, said indicating member indicating the torce ot said ball in aflight; a. plurality of movable members for indicating departurey ofsaid ball Yfrom the normalpath of flight;l

and means for preventing a rebounding of said ball into engagement withsaid movable members.

A golf indicating mechanism of the class described for indicating thepath of travel of a golf club when used 'for striking a. ball,comprising a pair of independently movable engagement members, oneadapted for engagingV the golf club adjacent its head, vand the otheradapted for engaging the golf club adjacent is other end.

8. A golf indicating mechanism of the class described, comprising: aball. supporting member; a plurality of parallel extending` rods; aplurality of independently movable bodies positioned in spaced relationon each of saidv rods about said ball, and adapted, upon travel of saidball from its supporting member in other than a predetermined direction,to engage said ball, said members being, upon engagement with said ball,moved out of normal position; a plurality of rods eX- tending parallelto said lirst mentioned rods and buckled upon themselvesat spacedintervals to provide fingers projecting therefrom; means for rockingsaid last mentioned rods at will, said lingers, upon rocking in onedirection, moving said movable bodies into normal position.

4. A golr" indicating mechanism of the classv described, comprising: a`platform; a ball supporting member on said platform; a plurality ofmovable bodies positioned about said ball and adapted, upon travel ofsaid ball treni its supporting member in other than a predetermineddirection, for engaging said ioo said position upon engagement with saidball; a

l swingably mounted `shield at one end of said platform; releasablemeans for normally retaining said platformoin reclined position;resilient means normally tending to move latform to upright position; acord on said ball; and means att-ached. to said cord adapted upon thestriking of said ball for releasing said releasableretaining means.

5. In a golf indicatino' mechanism of the class described; a latform; anupwardly projecting rod on said platform, said rod being swingable topositions'of inclination relatively to said platform; means for locking.said rod in various positions of inclination;

a collar rotatably mounted on said rod; a tongue projecting outwardlyfrom said collar axially thereof, adjacent its periphery; an

arm projecting radiall outwardly from said 240 `collar; a tube rotata lymounted on Vsaid distance, for engaging said tongue; anda '25 radiallyextending arm on said tube.

Y In testimony whereof I have signed the foregoing.

HARRY G. CORNER.

